Judge Kicks Labrie's Lawyer Off Request for New Trial Claiming Conflict of Interest

Owen Labrie, 20, stands next to his lawyer Jaye Rancourt as a Concord judge ordered him to immediately serve his one-year sentence for breaking curfew multiple times.

POOL/The Concord Monitor

An attorney for Owen Labrie, the St. Paul’s School graduate convicted of having sex with a minor last summer, can no longer represent him in his push for a new trial.

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Labrie is asking for a new trial, claiming he was poorly represented by his trial attorneys. But on Tuesday, a Concord judge ruled that Labrie’s current lawyer, who was also part of his original defense team, can no longer continue to represent him.

In the court order, Judge Larry Smukler stated that because Attorney Jaye Rancourt was actively involved in that earlier trial, she cannot fully advocate for Labrie as she would be “hesitant to raise her own trial inadequacies on appeal.”

Labrie has recently added out of state lawyers to his defense team, and they will likely take on his appeal effort. Meanwhile, Rancourt will still represent Labrie’s separate appeal of his conviction to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.